Fish that nets the fairer sex using hooks on its penis found in Mexico

A new species of freshwater fish that gets around efforts by the female to block ‘low quality’ mates using four hooks on its penis has been discovered in east-central Mexico.

A freshwater fish with four hooks on its penis has been discovered in Mexico

The male llanos mosquitofish, or Gambusia quadruncus, has a series of hooks on its sex organs which enable it to get a grip and hold on for longer, according to researchers.

Meanwhile the female has a ‘colourful spot’ on its anus that gives the male the green light.

The latest revelation, which features in the Journal of Fish Biology, has come not long after a type of fish with a penis on its head was discovered in Vietnam.

Researcher Brian Langerhans, of North Carolina State University, said the male’s unusual genitalia may be a response to efforts by the female to avoid mates that don’t quite measure up.

A male Gambusia quadruncus with four hooks on its penis has been disovered in Mexico.

He said: ‘Typically, reproduction is more costly in females, so females favor ways of reducing mating with ‘lower quality’ males, but reproduction is cheap in males and so selection favors ways of mating with as many females as possible.

The study found that some females have evolved a blocking device with a big ball of tissue over most of the genital pore that restricts entry of the male’s gonopodial tip.

Langerhans said another reason for the four hooks could be that they stimulate the female in a way that that facilitates ‘effective sperm transfer’.